Friday, May 8, 2015

The Body Builder - Part 3

"Do you like this body?" Gaull asked, tracing the curves of her body with a fingertip as they lay in bed.

Jasmeen giggled. "I love this body. Its my favorite."

"You don't have to say it just because it was made for my tastes. Don't you wish you could come here in your own body?"

"Hell no! My old body is best locked away. If I could I'd live in this one. Its so young and glamorous. So much energy. Apparently its based on the holoreel movie stars Chanollaire Chrillamme and Slens Vert with a bit of the pop star Venelles Yvottice, but you know that right? They're your favorites? You like them dark and dusky don't you! If the company released me from my contract and gives me the pick of any clone as a leaving gift I'd take this one."

Gaull fell silent.

"You think we'll ever get to leave?" he said quietly.

Jasmeen didn't answer immediately. She sighed.

"I don't know. The truth is I know too much. I've performed for Senators, CEOs and movie stars. You might be able to, you have no real dirt on them."

"I've made clones to be murdered. I've created little girls body's so these sickos can sate their perverted lusts. I know too much too." replied Gaull.

"You'll be fine. What's this all about?"

"I don't know. I was just fantasizing about running away from all this. Just wondered if during our daring escape whether we'd need to stop off and grab your birth-body before stealing a ship and flying away into the big black together."

Jasmeen rested her head on his bare chest.

"No, I'm happy with this body so just grab the keys and lets ride" she said with a touch of sadness.

-o0o-

Lieutenant Moreau looked at the message again. He would have dismissed it as a hoax but they already were already actively looking for this place. They knew it was real. A low-sec outpost full of criminals that housed a cat-house providing illegal designer clones. An urban legend of a place for the elite of New Eden to satisfy their perverted desires with clones of movie stars and people they could not have in real life. Some dismissed it as legend but the Federal Police Force knew it was all too real. They just couldn't find it.

Moreau replied to the cryptic message with his own. Two simple words.

"Prove it."

He had to wait a month for the reply.

-o0o-

"Your Eminence. There is a problem." the hooded figure spoke in a subservient tone. The throne room in the Amarrian vessel was typical of the empire. Gleaming gold and bright red velvet assaulted the senses. The ever present hum of the warp drive in standby mode was a constant reminder they were on a starship and not in an ancient Amarrian monastery.

"What is it my son?" the old man spoke.

"Our ship has been intercepted by a small Federal Police force which are blocking our way. Four Comet class frigates have surrounded us and ordering us to stand-down. They are demanding to board us."

The old man steepled his fingers under his chin.

"We are in sovereign Gallente space. We must comply with their law-men. Allow them on-board and send the senior officer to see me." he replied with a wave of his hand.

Five minutes later Lieutenant Moreau walked down the golden corridor following the young acolyte. He was either about to crack this case open or ruin his career by kicking off a major diplomatic incident between the Gallente Federation and the Amarrian Empire. He had no idea if this would work.

"Frack it. Balls deep." he whispered to himself.

They entered the room and he saw the old man in the golden robes sat on a throne. The acolyte who escorted the Lieutenant bowed and left.

"Do you know who I am?" the old man asked in a tone that indicated he was not please.

"I know what you are, not who you are."

The answer clearly took the old man off guard.

"So what am I?" he said with a smile, his mood changing upon finding this policeman would not be easily intimidated.

"You are an Emissary from Bhizheba V within the Amarr Empire and a sick pervert who likes little girls."

The old mans face dropped. His mouth hung open in shock.

"Gotchya" Moreau thought.

"How, how, how, how dare you! I should have you flushed out of the airlock for that slur!" he spluttered.

"You could. Then you'd be wanted for murdering a Federal Officer as well as your other crimes. To be honest killing the only man who can make this go away wouldn't be the smartest move now would it?"

The old man paused.

"How can it be made to, as you say, go away?"

"The proof I have is pretty damning. Obviously holo-recordings only tell a very one-sided version of the story. I assume the little girl is a clone and the person inside the body is much older?" Moreau continued.

"Yes." the old man whispered. Moreau had no evidence. All he had was a system, a time and the words "This Amarrian likes his girls very young". The pervert had filled the rest of the gaps in on his own.

"Unfortunately the video file doesn't say that. Its just you and the girl. You obviously have a lot of money to pay for these special services. I want one million credits transferring to my personal account right now. Do that and I'll say this is a drugs raid acting on an anonymous tip. None of my officers know why we are here. We'll search your ship, find nothing, apologise to you in front of any witnesses of your choice, and then leave."

The old man smiled and nodded reaching for his datapad.

-o0o-

Daemire came into the control room. Yvelle was there with her feet up on the console and look of thunder across her face. Even when mad she still looked stunning. She had been one of his original girls. Back before they moved into using designer clones. He used to run a cat-house in Luminaire and she'd been his favorite. Eventually she stopped seeing Johns and became his lover and business partner. They had fallen apart eventually but it was an amicable split. Daemire had kept her on as his number two as she knew the business so well.

"Where the frack have you been? We've got a serious problem!" Yvelle growled.

"What?"

"The Emissary has been on. His yacht was intercepted on the way back to the Empire by the Feds. They knew what his tastes were and claimed to have a video from here. They wanted a million credits to make it look like a narc raid. He paid up and the crooked cop left but he is furious."

Daemire narrowed his eyes. "We have a leak. Find out who it is."

-o0o-

"So were you questioned today?" Gaull asked as he placed the plates of food down on the table in his suite.

"Yes. I think everyone was. Its a bit scary." Jasmeen replied. She was coming around to Gaull's suite most nights now. Daemire had also given her permission to use the clone they had originally created to lure Gaull on a day-to-day basis rather than just the weekly visit. Gaull doubted this was out of the goodness of his heart and suspected that Daemire made that offer as he thought it would keep Gaull happy. Since starting on black and pink jobs, Guall had been rather unhappy at work.

"How can there be a leak? This place is so secure." Gaull asked.

"Its not any of us I am sure. We don't have access to anything. There is a specialist hacking team on deck 5 that do cyber crimes I hear. Must be one of those. They have network and neocom access." Jasmeen said as she started cutting up her juicy steak. "I mean most of us want to get out of here, but if the Feds bust us then we're all in it together. They'll arrest us all. Unless whoever is the leak has struck a deal already."

"Or has a very cunning escape plan!" Gaull laughed.

After they finished their meal they cleared the table together and had an early night. Jasmeen couldn't shake a feeling though. The way Gaull said 'a cunning plan' made her a bit nervous. Nervous, but hopeful.

-o0o-

Moreau leaned back in the seat and looked at his datapad that displayed his bank balance. A measly three thousand credits was all that was left in his account that a while ago had seven figures. Such was the life of an honest cop. Internal Affairs had been waiting for the money to be deposited. As soon as it was, it was transferred again to the charity for supporting the families of cops who had been injured or killed in the line of duty. Moreau had been a millionaire for all of ninety seconds. The main reason for the 'bribe' was an excuse for the subsequent drugs search. One of the officers in the search team was a computer specialist trained in starship navi-com systems. Whilst in the engine room he had downloaded the data from the ships drive-computer whilst other officers distracted the engineering crew. They'd got the ship's navigation logs. They'd got a location.

The small police fleet was en-route to the system.

In an hour it would be over.

-o0o-

"Its you. You are the leak." Yvelle spat with venom in her voice. Daemire laughed hard.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. The only reason it took so long was we didn't look at your logs. Why would you do it Daemire? The comms console shows your access logged." she asked.

"Don't be ridiculous! What do I get from leaking anything? Its MY money, its MY outpost, its MY organization. If I wanted out I'd simply leave. I have enough money for a dozen lifetimes. I have the connections to keep me safe forever. Why would I call the cops?"

"I don't know! However the logs showed you accessed the Neo-comm. You sent messages to the Feds from a secret account."

"Hackers you stupid bitch. Of course it looks like me. Give me one plausible reason why I'd tip off the cops to my own organization? I don't care if the DNA logger says its me, its not. Go on, give me one reason why I'd do it."

Yvelle paused. She thought hard for one scenario where Daemire might be the leak. Finally she picked up her datapad.

"Security. Arrest every single person in the hacking team and lock them up now."

Daemire scowled at her with his arms crossed. She looked at him sheepishly.

"It must be one of them. Only they have the skills to edit the DNA logger. They framed you."

Daemire nodded.

-o0o-

Two hours later the alarm sounded throughout the station. The occupants had prepared for this event but never expected it. They were under attack. The law was here.

Daemire and Yvelle were grilling one of the hacking team in an interrogation room when it sounded. Daemire picked up his datapad.

"Report!" he said in a commanding tone.

Yvelle looked on anxiously as Daemire listened and nodded to whoever he was talking too.

"You know what to do." he said finally hanging up the call.

Yvelle looked at him questioningly.

"Federal Navy is here. Its only a small force surrounding the station but our scanners have identified cyno generators on two of the Federal ships. I'm guessing if we try and wait this out we'll have a dreadnought or two knocking on our door. They have said any ship leaving will be fired upon and are demanding we activate the docking system."

"What are we going to do?" Yvelle asked, panic in her voice.

"What we planned for. Take the Opux yacht, use the insta-undock and cloak up. Its game over for this place Yvelle. Lets get out of here."

The two walked briskly down the corridor leaving the stunned hacker on his own wondering what was going on. All along the busy corridor people were running about and panicking as word spread of the Police blockade outside. Daemire and Yvelle calmly and discreetly headed to the private hanger. The armed guard stood in front of the door as usual, blocking the way. When he saw the two approaching he looked shocked.

Daemire punched the guard in head, furious. The man dropped to the floor unconscious. Daemire then burst into laughter. Loud, maniacal laughter. Yvelle just stood looking on at the spectacle with her arms crossed. When he finished laughing he looked at her.

"What in Divinities Edge is going on?" she growled.

"Exactly what it looks like. I tipped off the police, I stole the yacht and took one of the girls!" he laughed again.

"Have you lost your mind? You are here!"

"I suspect that I am here and there! Gaull! It has to be Gaull. He must have cloned me somehow and has been impersonating me. He made a copy that could waltz into the secure comms room and send a message and nobody would question him. Hell I'm the boss and the DNA scanners were happy so what were they going to do? Then once he knew the cops were on their way here he just walked down to the hanger, with Jasmeen in tow no doubt, and took my ship and with it our only way off this outpost. Sorry, his ship, our ship. My, my, my! Did I underestimate that kid."

Yvelle's face was one of horror.

"So what now?"

"I don't know. Life in jail or blown to bits. Shall we flip a coin?" he asked flippantly taking out his datapad. "Oh look, we were too slow in getting back to them. They've deployed a Moros! Ooooo a warning shot!"

-o0o-

Obacan watched the man approach his counter. Well dressed, mid-20's, hansom. Probably had more money in his back pocket than Obacan made in a year. He hated these rich asshats. Working in a private bank was probably not the best for his blood pressure given his view on wealthy people, but he needed the credits.

"I'd like to make a withdrawal please." the man politely stated as he reached the counter.

Obacan nodded to the ident station next to the counter's window. The man placed his head against the forehead rest and pressed his palm on the plate. A second later the retinal, palm and DNA scanner confirmed his identity and highlighted his account.

"Welcome back Mr Juvoire. How much would you like to withdraw?"

The clone of Daemire looked down at the readout in front of him and placed a large smart briefcase on the side.

"100 million." he replied casually.

Within 10 minutes he was walking down the steps of the private bank with the case in hand. Jasmeen was sat in a brand new Allotek sports lev-car waiting.

"Where too?" she asked with a smile as he climbed into the bucket seats.

"I don't know?" Gaull replied back with a smile and a wink "Back to the ship? I hear the pleasure resorts on Botane Six are pleasant this time of year? First, I think I'll clone back to my old body. You can stay as you are."

The sports car roared off towards the starport, the engine masking the sound of laughter.

However - this part felt forced; in particular the twist was delivered by expositional monologue. Being visually minded, I think that part might have been delivered better by jump-cuts between Daemire sputtering in dawning comprehension, and Gaull in Daemire's body taking off in a ship, leaving it to the readers to figure out what happened. Think how the movie "Ocean's 11" executed its twist. Show, not tell.

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